How to Get OpenSSL Binaries for Windows from MSYS2

Software applications often depend on the OpenSSL libraries. On Linux, package managers handle these dependencies, so developers usually do not need to bundle OpenSSL files themselves. On Windows, however, you cannot assume that users already have OpenSSL installed. If your application needs it, you may need to ship the required files with the application.

The OpenSSL website provides source code rather than the prebuilt Windows binaries I needed. Compiling it yourself can be inconvenient, so here is one way to get a prebuilt package:

OpenSSL packages for MinGW on MSYS2

Look for the Binary Packages section and choose the package for your target architecture. To understand what terms such as clang and ucrt in the package name mean, see the MSYS2 environments documentation.

Open the page for the package you selected. Next to File, there is a URL for a .zst archive. Download it and open it with an archive manager; inside the outer archive is a tar archive.

The OpenSSL executables are in the bin directory and can be used on Windows.